Finding a Place for Open Access Monographs: Starting from Scratch

Open access monographs are a relatively new product, and the existing distribution infrastructure for print monographs is largely opaque to publishers. That means, when building a financial framework for open monographs, there isn’t much reliable data out there. But MIT Press, The press hopes its three-year $850,000 grant from the Arcadia Fund will help produce a sustainable business model all presses can adopt to publish OA monographs. As a researcher on the project and a Senior Consultant at SPARC, Raym Crow is quite aware of the lack of useful data on OA monographs. He says that those working on the project are “forced to treat it as a new service” since monograph publishing “doesn’t yield the same kind of market data that you get from subscriptions or other kinds of products and services.”a staunch supporter of open access materials, is working to set a precedent. In this episode, Crow explains what data they can use, and the risk involved in building a framework for a new service. Terry Ehling, Director for Strategic Initiatives at MIT Press, discusses the press’ background with the Arcadia Fund, its motivation for building this framework, and how the press has used the grant thus far.